Thirty years ago, Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised to turn East German countries into flowering landscapes. How do you think the Germans did in 30 years?
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When we read this year’s report on the state of German unity, which is issued by the federal government every year, it sounds quite optimistic. The report points out that many things have actually worked out. That in many areas unity has actually been achieved or almost achieved. That is, the differences between East and West are no longer very obvious. So on the one hand, in connection with the anniversary, there is actually optimism. So this is the view of the federal government.
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But then, of course, there are still older issues. Compensation, especially economic compensation, is not 100% in all areas. The East is still poorer and still has to be subsidized, although of course less than before. Progress has been great over the thirty years, and the situation is incomparably better than it was thirty years ago. In other words, the federal government can be somewhat satisfied, as the report shows.
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On Saturday, the initiative “3. To recall the unity of the country, the belonging of the population and at the same time to observe the hygienic measures in connection with the coronavirus pandemic October – Germany sings “. The organizers call for people all over Germany to sing together on the streets, on balconies or at home in the living room on Saturday at 19:00. The repertoire will include the song Die Gedanken sind frei (Thoughts are free) and the European anthem – Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
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This is the economic side of the former East Germany. And what about the population and quality of life? Is it also approaching the west?
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I think it’s related. With the fact that the long period of significantly higher unemployment in the East than in the West was overcome. It reached 20% in the east, twice as much as in the west, even during the crisis, when unemployment was also high in the west. That has now been reduced. In other words, the standard of living in the East is, on average, at a high level.
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Even people in various surveys subjectively evaluate their economic situation as good. But despite the fact that the situation is quite favorable, a certain disproportion remains in satisfaction with it and the situation. In the east of Germany, people are proving to be less satisfied.
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On the contrary, are they in the east of East Germany ahead of the West?
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There is one thing that is said to have done better in the GDR, and that was women’s employment. They had a larger number of employed women, especially mothers. As they needed manpower in the GDR, women had to get involved, so crèches and kindergartens had to be set up. And they remained even after unification. So women’s employment is higher in the East than in the West, which is seen as a positive legacy of the GDR, which has allowed women to have careers alongside their families.
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You have already mentioned the report on the state of German unity. Marco Wanderwitz, the government’s commissioner for the new federal states, claims that the comparison can no longer be just about east and west, but that it is also necessary to add north and south. Does this mean that the German west-east dividing axis is no longer as relevant as it used to be?
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Not so current. Although, of course, it is still being watched and it is still a political issue. However, the dividing line is no longer so strong, because simply the problems are geographically spread throughout Germany. There are, of course, many structurally weak regions in eastern Germany, but there are also many in western Germany. There is also the problem of north-south, but it also runs across Germany. Although the north and northeast are more problematic.
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More than following the east-west line, there is a tendency to follow other criteria for evaluation: the state of the German economy, quality of life and so on. Of course, the east-west line has not disappeared and will not disappear for a long time and will continue to be monitored for a long time.
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German Government Plenipotentiary for the New Länder Marco Wanderwitz.
Is there such a thing as an East German identity in that context? Or how to recognize it?
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I would say probably not that it doesn’t exist as such. But there are various collective identifications. Firstly, people who have experienced the GDR, so they have this experience. But then there is the generation that was born after unification. And in part, they feel like Germans, they don’t feel different from living in the East. But there is also a section of people who feel they are different. It’s just different to be born and raised in the East. In other words, it is an awareness that the East is simply different, that people live there a little differently, that people have a slightly different experience, that they have different opinions. It remains.
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But it is not that they are completely different and not able to operate within the whole of Germany, it is not so. But there is a certain tension that the people are Germans, but that they think a little differently, they work a little differently in everyday life. This only applies to a part of society, because then there is a large part that somehow feels like a German and does not find it important to distinguish whether from the East or the West.
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How is East Germany represented in current federal politics? Is it underrepresented, or is it a matching representation?
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Formerly East Germany, or the part of its constituents that failed to fully integrate into and identify with the new system after 1990, was represented by the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism. After some fifteen years, this party, which was elected only in eastern Germany and had almost no voters in the west, joined forces with a splinter faction of the Social Democrats to form a new party.
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So there were the post-communists from the East and the left-wing part of the Social Democrats, who did not agree with the reforms of the Schröder government. And Die Linke was formed, which was then successful throughout Germany, even though it always had more support in the east. It also gained some support in the West, because the Western left-wing Social Democrats were there. And so the party that was intrinsically linked to East Germany became the All-German party.
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Similarly with the Alternative for Germany, which is stronger in East Germany but has some support and representation in West Germany. We see in this that the east-west division still plays a role, but it is no longer such a sharp line.
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And what about direct representation at the level of politicians in the federal government? Is there Chancellor Angela Merkel, who lived in the GDR, but does that mean that the Germans from the East are not underrepresented?
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The topic of representativeness is talked about due to the representation of the population of East Germany in elite positions – among elites, not just political ones. It is said that East Germans have less chance of getting into the top elite leadership positions both in the private sector, ie the company’s top management, as well as in state federal, ie all-German, federal institutions.
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In the highest positions, the East Germans are underrepresented, and the question is why and if and how to fix it. There is a debate about whether it is okay, whether to introduce quotas in the federal authorities or how to balance it. In the private sphere, they let it go. But he feels the problem is that being born and raised in the former GDR means a career disadvantage. One cannot get that high because the elites are recruited from elsewhere.
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According to a study of the federal army, there are significantly fewer generals who come from East Germany. Even after thirty years, the East Germans failed to penetrate these higher positions any more. There is, of course, the example of Chancellor Merkel, who has handled this perfectly and probably does not feel disadvantaged. There are other people from the East who have made great careers since unification and have opportunities they should not. However, the question of disproportion and certain disadvantage remains there.
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Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.
So Chancellor Merkel is, to a certain extent, an exception in that she broke through like this?
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Rather, it represents a more successful, contented part of the population of East Germany. She is the most visible, but she is not the only one. But then there is the second part of society, which for some reason did not have such a chance, luck and success. And that is the problem and the topic that remains.
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It is no longer much connected with the period of division into two states, but it is a question of the last thirty years: what has actually succeeded or failed, even though in East Germany some people are still dissatisfied with the situation. And to a big surprise in a situation where he is materially quite well. Why there is dissatisfaction, why right-wing populist or far-left parties vote, why they have different views on politics. Although the assumption was: we will settle, we will balance the economy, and with that will come the reduction of those mental differences. But it did not happen.
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